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Leadership: Chapter 2 - Trait Approach
Leadership: Chapter 2 - Trait Approach
Leadership
Chapter 2 - Trait Approach
Northouse, 4th edition
Overview
Great Person Theories
Historical Shifts in Trait Perspective
What Traits Differentiate Leaders
From Nonleaders?
How Does the Trait Approach Work?
Great Man
Theories
Research focused
on individual
characteristics
that universally
differentiated
leaders
from nonleaders
Innate Qualities
1930-50s
Traits Interacting
With Situational
Demands on Leaders
Landmark Stogdill (1948)
Today
5 Major
Leadership
Traits
Intelligence
Self-Confidence
Determination
Integrity
Sociability
Leadership Traits
Studies of Leadership Traits and Characteristics
Emotional Intelligence
& Leadership
Definition
Ability to perceive and:
apply emotions to lifes
tasks
reason/understand
emotions
express emotions
use emotions to
facilitate thinking
manage emotions
within oneself &
relationships
Underlying Premise
people who are
more sensitive to
their emotions &
their impact on
others will be
more effective
leaders
Focuses
exclusively on
leader
What traits
leaders exhibit
Who has these
traits
Personality
Assessments
Organizations use
personality assessments to
find Right people
Assumption - will increase
organizational effectiveness
Specify characteristics/traits
for specific positions
Personality assessment
measures for fit
Instruments: LTQ, Myers Briggs
Strengths
Intuitively appealing
Perception that
leaders are different in
that they possess
special traits
People need to view
leaders as gifted
Credibility due to a
century of research
support
Highlights leadership
component in the
leadership process
Deeper level
understanding of how
leader/personality
related to leadership
process
Provides benchmarks
for what to look for in a
leader
Criticisms
Fails to delimit a
definitive list of
leadership traits
Endless lists have
emerged
Application
Provides direction as to which traits are
good to have if one aspires to a
leadership position
Through various tests and questionnaires,
individuals can determine whether they
have the select leadership traits and can
pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses
Can be used by managers to assess
where they stand within their organization
and what is needed to strengthen their
position
Leadership
Traits
Intelligence
Self-Confidence
Determination
Integrity
Sociability